New Brunswick teacher was late more than 110 times, but district can't fire him

• Elementary school teacher earns $90,000 with 14 years of experience.
• Arbitrator says school officials did not follow procedure with teacher's discipline.
• Tenure-reform law was signed by Gov. Christie in 2012.

NEW BRUNSWICK — An elementary school teacher who was late to school at least 46 times this past school year and 65 times the year before will be able to keep his job, a state arbitrator has ruled.

The city school district had sought to terminate Roosevelt Elementary School math teacher Arnold Anderson as a result of his years of chronic tardiness.

But while the state-appointed arbitrator slammed the teacher's flimsy excuses and found that “there is no doubt the district has proven conduct unbecoming,” the teacher will be allowed to return to the classroom in January, albeit only after serving an unpaid suspension until then. Anderson earns about $90,000 per year with 14 years of experience.

The decision is one of dozens issued this year by arbitrators under the state’s Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey, or TeachNJ.

The tenure reform law, signed by Gov. Chris Christie in 2012, is supposed to make it easier to remove bad educators from the classrooms, although most of the arbitration decisions this year have returned teachers to their jobs, favoring job suspensions rather than terminations.

In Anderson’s case, the arbitrator said the district failed to provide the teacher with due process by providing him with a formal notice of inefficiency or by giving him 90 days to correct his failings.

While Anderson was unable to “plausibly” explain his lateness and — in the arbitrator’s words — relied on “micro-quibbles of a few unpersuasive explanations” while arguing “even when he is late he nevertheless delivers a superb educational experience to his grateful students,” the arbitrator felt that “progressive discipline” was fairer than termination.

The district had already withheld contractual salary increases from Anderson as discipline for his lateness, the arbitrator’s decision notes.

The process of filing tenure charges used to take years, but the new regulations require a state-appointed arbitrator to make a ruling within 90 days. The law makes it easier to file “inefficiency” charges against educators, which rarely happened under the former tenure law. Teachers can be charged with inefficiency after getting two consecutive poor annual evaluations.

Arbitrators can dismiss charges against a teacher if the district did not follow evaluation process; made a mistake of fact; were influenced by politics, nepotism, union activity or discrimination; or were arbitrary or capricious.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com